Development of an Innovative Sequencing platform for rapid diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing of tuberculosis in Morocco.

In Morocco, the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) for the last 10 years has increased from 90 to 107 cases per 100 000 people, with 70% of the new cases/year in vulnerable groups with limited access to sophisticated healthcare facilities. In this project conducted in collaboration between Moroccan (Mohammed V University, Pasteur Institute of Morocco) and Flemish (Hasselt University, Biomedical Research Institute) institutions, we will develop and implement for the first time in Morocco a novel Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform for a rapid, high throughput and cost-effective TB diagnosis and DST. In fact, the Biomedical Research Institute of UHasselt, with its high throughput genomics sequencing NGS laboratory (Ilumina Miseq platform) has expertise in functional genomics and is able to train / transfer NGS technology expertise to Morocco. This project will initiate collaborative research between the two institutes where both know-how and expertise can be merged to improve the TB diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing in Moroccan healthcare settings.